During
the reign of Henry VIII, his Chancelor, Cardinal Wolsey devised a rather
underhanded method of raising funds to pay for his master's military
adventures. Under the guise of a military muster the commissioners were to
summon all males over the age of 16, determine what weapons and armour each
possessed and then compel them, under oath, to divulge their total worth in
goods; household furnishings, livestock, loans, debts etc.. Landholders,
were to give an account of all land they held in each parish. No reasons
were given for this evaluation of their material possessions, but once
compiled the record became a basis for demanding a "loan" from those capable
of paying. Of course, the loan was never paid back.

The result is a partial listing of the male residents of Stithians along
with their relative worth in lands and goods. I say a partial listing
because many of the recorded landholders did not reside in the parish and if
the man wasn't worth at least £2 in goods, or wasn't extremely poor, he
wasn't recorded.

The record is divided into 4 parts; 1) the assessment made on the spiritual
members of the community, 2) the landholders, 3) the value of goods and what
military equipment the men possessed, 4) the value upon which the loan was
assessed.

If the landholder is not on
the goods list he didn't reside in the parish. Only 5 landholders did so and
are indicated by an asterik * in the notes and armour columns. An "armiger"
was someone holding a rank of esquire and would lay claim to a coat-of-arms.
A jack and a brigandine were similar; body armour made of leather or
cloth with steel plates. A brigandine was riveted whereas a jack was sewn. A
sallet was a steel helmet with a brim. A bill was sort of a broad axe on a
long pole, with or without a pike (spear point) on the end.

Jack Sallets
Brigandine
Bill

In many parts of Cornwall during this period surnames were not stable. At
least 20 of the 35 individual names on the value of goods list are derived
from farms and hamlets within the boundry of the Parish. A few, such as
Penhalurick, would become and probably was hereditary, but most would
disappear with time.

At least one man may have been identified by his occupation. William Engove
was probably an angove - cornish for blacksmith. Others were given, or
took the names of their fathers. An example being William John who appears
on the value of goods list bracketed with his probable father, John
Treskuwys. Again, we have no certainty that William John passed on this name
and the same can be said for John Stephyn, Ralph Hervy, John Benet and
others.